The bacterial strains were selected based on their ability to form a clear zone on nutrient agar plates containing industrial dyes.
Among the five isolated bacterial strains, one strain (RGS) was selected based on its ability to decolorize various
industrial dyes with faster decolorization rate.
The nearly full length sequence of 16S rRNA gene for RGS was determined. Based on the sequence identity of 16S rRNA gene against the GenBank database indicates that the isolate was closely related to the members of the genus Lysinibacillus.
The highest similarity towards the type strain of L. fusiformis was observed. A phylogenetic tree illustrating the relationship of strain RGS to other Lysinibacillus species is depicted. Selected strain was identified as Lysinibacillus sp. RGS on the basis of 16S rRNA sequence, morphological and biochemical characteristics (data not shown).
The effectiveness of microbial decolorization depends on the survival, adaptability and the activity of enzymes produced by selected microorganisms (3).
The decolorization capacity of Lysinibacillus sp. RGS tested by examining its potential to degrade various dyes. Lysinibacillus sp. RGS decolorized six textile dyes out of these, Remazol Red and Golden Yellow HER were decolorized by 100% and as Remazol Red took minimum time (6 h) with average decolorization rate of about 8.33 mg/h so we studied further parameters by using this dye (data not shown).